Power semiconductor devices may have not only power components but also control components which serve for controlling the power components. Since the current intensities of the electric currents that permeate the power components are significantly higher than the intensities of the electric currents that are fed to the control components, the thicknesses of power bonding wires that make contact with the power components turn out to be very different compared with the thicknesses of the control bonding wires that make contact with the control components.
The wiring of power components and control components is relatively complicated since for each bonding wire it is necessary to provide contact areas on the power components and control components, respectively, the lateral space requirement of the contact areas turning out to be different depending on the type of bonding wire (power bonding wire or control bonding wire).
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic plan view of a known power semiconductor device.
A power semiconductor device 1 has a first power component 2, a second power component 3 and also a control component 4 for controlling the first and second power components 2, 3. The first and second power components 2, 3 are arranged next to one another, and the control component 4 is provided on the second power component 3. A power contact area 5 and also control contact areas 6, 7 are provided on the first power component 2. A power contact area 8 and also control contact areas 9, 10 are likewise provided on the second power component 3. Control contact areas 11 to 20 are provided on the control component 4. The control contact areas 6, 7, 9 and 10 provided on the first and second power components 2, 3 are electrically connected via control bonding wires 211, 212, 213, 214 to the control contact areas 13, 14, 11, 14 provided on the control component 4. Furthermore, the control contact areas 15 to 20 provided on the control component 4 are electrically connected to external connections 22 of the power semiconductor device 1 via control bonding wires 215 to 2110. The power contact areas 6 and 8 are in each case electrically contact-connected by means of a power bonding wire 23, 24, each power bonding wire 23, 24 in turn being electrically connected to an external connection 22.
What is disadvantageous about the power semiconductor device 1 described in FIG. 1 is that the power contact areas 5, 8 and the control contact areas 6, 7, 9 and 10 in their totality take up a relatively large amount of space, so that, given a predetermined lateral extent of the power components 2 and 3, the active zones provided within the power components 2, 3 generally turn out to be smaller, the higher the lateral extent of the power contact areas 5 and 8. This leads either to an increased lateral extent of the power components 2, 3 (with the power of the power components remaining the same), or to a lower power of the power components 2, 3 (with the lateral dimensions remaining the same). For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.